


An Important Post-War Decision

by alivelesbian



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 15:03:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12460239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alivelesbian/pseuds/alivelesbian
Summary: "Liara was leaning against the living room door frame, staring skeptically at the large, empty glass container sitting central on their carpet, when Shepard entered the kitchen balancing several containers of fish food in her left arm."Shepard's new life with Liara was missing just one thing.





	An Important Post-War Decision

**Author's Note:**

> So, this silly idea came to me and I knew I just had to write it :)

Liara was leaning against the living room door frame, staring skeptically at the large, empty glass container sitting central on their carpet, when Shepard entered the kitchen balancing several containers of fish food in her left arm.

“I don't know, Shepard. Fish? Do you remember what happened when you tried to take care of the ones you had aboard the Normandy?”

Shepard seemingly didn't hear her bondmate's question as she excitedly shuffled her way towards the massive fish tank, the movement causing the containers to overbalance and fall helplessly to the floor before Shepard could stop them.

“So elegant.” Liara teased, smirking as Shepard knelt down to tidy the assortment of boxes into a neat pile, “Your reflexes appear to be slipping, but I suppose that means what they say is true. Once you end a war on all galactic life it only goes downhill from there.”

Shepard mirrored Liara's expression as she rolled her eyes, “Pssh, come on! Today is about fish, not honing my reflexes. I knew there'd be no harm done by the boxes landing on our carpet from arm's height. No point bothering to catch them. When have I needed to use my reflexes for anything important since the end of the war, anyway? They're as refined as ever!”

Liara raised an eyebrow marking at Shepard's enthusiastic defence of her abilities and made an active effort not to cave into the banter by bursting into laughter. “My, that's the most convincing argument I've ever heard. I've certainly seen reason now. And here I was hoping that what you lack in reflexes these days you'd make up for in your ability to take care of your new fish.”

“It'll be different this time, now that we aren't fighting a galactic war. I'll have the time to become a better fish mom. Look, I already have the food ready and I'm gonna keep the boxes stacked next to the tank at all times! It'd be impossible for me to forget that they're there.”

“I'm holding you to that you know.” Liara sighed, though the amusement in her voice clearly betrayed her attempt to sound serious if Shepard's knowing grin was any indication.

“Besides,” Shepard's grin grew wider, “I'll have you around to feed them if I forget.”

“I am _not_ looking after your fish for you, Shepard. I don't remember agreeing to this when you crashed through the house with that huge thing.” The asari gestured towards the glass tank taking up most of the space in the room. “Where are you even planning on putting it?”

Liara watched indignantly as Shepard started pushing the fish tank into the corner of the room closest to their TV. Admittedly, it blended in pleasantly and didn't strike Liara as intrusive or unsightly like she had first feared.

“Here, what do you think? We'll have a table to put it on obviously, the one I've ordered is on its way. Once we get the tank set up we can go fish shopping and see what's around. Got any Thessian fish in mind? There are some native Earth fish I want to buy.”

The delight radiating off of Shepard was enough to cause whatever doubt Liara still had to melt away, at least for a moment. The human's joy was rubbing off on her.

“I think it looks good by there.” Liara agreed, “Right there, in that very spot. There's no need to adjust its location in any way.” She added when the mental image of an overexcited Shepard rearranging their entire living room to suit the fish tank's position entered her mind. She also couldn't deny that the idea of owning some of the fish familiar to her while she was growing up on her homeworld was tempting...

 

 

The next day, the pair were admiring their fully set up, fully inhabited fish tank after a long morning of choosing which breeds to take home. Shepard was in the process of eagerly naming each fish while Liara stood by her side, stifling a laugh.

“You see that clownfish? His name is Garrus.”

“And how do you suppose our good friend for all these years will feel when you tell him you've named him after one of your Earth-hooligans?”

“Clowns aren't hooligans, Liara. They're comedians, children love them!”

“Then I question the judgement of human children because they're terrifying to me.”

“This isn't a clown anyway, it's a clown _fish_. They're just called clownfish because their vibrant colours remind people of the clothes a clown typically wears.”

“Uh huh, I'm sure Garrus will love that.” Liara chuckled. They both knew that Garrus would be as amused as Shepard, if not more so. The turian always took special pride in their ongoing banter and if he were with them right now, he'd probably already be making plans to adopt a varren called Shepard. Liara wondered how many pet varren in the galaxy had already been named in Shepard's honour following the end of the war.

“You know how much of a softie Garrus is really, he'll love it. But if you insist, I could name it something else. How about, hmm...” The devious grin that grew on Shepard's face told Liara she wasn't going to like what her bondmate was thinking, “... _Liara T'Fishi_.”

Liara let out an involuntary snort as she placed her head in her hands, “Oh Goddess, please don't.”

“Does Garrus sound more appealing now?” Shepard teased, “The name for the fish, I mean.”

“Yes, and the actual Garrus does too right about now because _he_ didn't just suggest we use my surname as a fish pun!”

“Hah! You've got a point, T'Fish- sorry, T'Soni.”

“I will pay you a trillion credits not to say _T'Fishi_ ever again.”

“Nice try but that'd only work if our main savings account wasn't already in both of our names.” Shepard's thoughts turned to their wealth. They both had separate accounts as well as an account set aside specifically to donate to rebuilding efforts across the galaxy, but most of their funding was in their shared account.

“Not fair! Fine, _please_ name it Garrus.”

“Shepard: one, T'Soni: zero!” Shepard joked. Liara rolled her eyes as the triumphant human dramatically fist-pumped the air.

 

 

Later that night Shepard and Liara found themselves cuddled under a blanket on their reclining sofa bed, watching the new fish explore their environment. The tank radiated a blue glow, though from LED lighting rather than biotics. During her research into mixing fish from different worlds Shepard had discovered that non-biotic fish could be killed from even the slightest direct exposure to biotics and that because of this they couldn't be mixed with biotic fish. Luckily for Liara, while most Thessian fish do exhibit some level of biotic ability, there were also a select few breeds that possessed no biotic ability whatsoever. These made good additions to their new tank.

“They look beautiful.” Liara remarked, turning her head upwards slightly to address Shepard from her position leaning against the woman's shoulder.

“I'm glad you like them, I think so too.”

“I know I was skeptical to begin with but I'm really happy that you came up with the idea. They'll fit right in with us.”

“I knew you'd come round on the idea eventually but I'm glad to hear that from you anyway, it means a lot. And I'm sure you already know but I wouldn't have insisted we do this if you were seriously opposed.”

“I know and I'm thankful but luckily that was never a problem. Even with my initial skepticism I trusted you.”

“Thank you.” Shepard pulled Liara in for a tighter hug.

“And Shepard? I agree to help look after our fish, whether you forget to feed them or not.”


End file.
